Lonnie Lazar's Open Salon Blog

Jesus Christ, People. It's Not That Hard.

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:08:55 -0400

It seems fairly clear at this point: "the Internet" consists, for the vast majority of people in the United States anyway, of Facebook and Twitter.

By that I mean to say those two platforms comprise the portals through which a massive percentage of news, information, comment, and opinion passes--from which people go thither and yon to investigate or gawk or supplement whatever it is that first comes to their attention via Facebook and Twitter. Whether that's a good or bad thing is neither here nor there, it just is. And as such, it seems reasonable to note every now and then when Facebook and Twitter gets overloaded with content about one thing or another.

Right now Facebook and Twitter are positively aflame with postings about MO. Rep. Todd Akin's recent remarks about "legitimate rape" and what women's bodies may or may not be capable of with respect to the intimate dance between sperm and eggs.

There is also an increasing number of posts about the looming presidential election, the aggregate of which seems to confirm a definite polarization among the populace with respect to whether we are ruled by oligarchs or socialists (not to mention Muslims).

I've been thinking for a long while about the failure of the mainstream media to fulfill its watchdog role, to fulfill its role of informing the citizenry of the ways in which elected officials and institutions of government fall down on the job, making life--our understanding of it and our ability to solve its inherent difficulties--much more difficult than it ought to be.

I've been thinking, too, about the incestuous relationship between the mainstream media and the multinational corporations under whose auspices it operates--and the resultant game-rigging that ensures mainstream media cannot be trusted to provide truthful, germane reporting or information vital to the sustenance of an informed citizenry. That, however, is a topic beyond the scope of the present rant.

But the back and forth about Akin and about the race between Obama and Romney have me a little bit spooked. I mean, really, are we that far unhinged from reality that there's even a debate about the heading we need to set sail on?

Don't get me wrong. I am and have been from the near get-go a critic of Barack Obama and his highly compromising approach to leading the nation. But the so-called objectivity of the mainstream media that lends credence to bat-shit crazy notions of people such as Todd Akin and to Romney's "bold" and "serious" Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan makes me shake my head in wonder, and I tell myself: this is not my beautiful house; this is not my beautiful wife.

And then, as I do monthly, I go to my post-office box and pick up my copy of Harper's Magazine. Soon, all is right in the world and I remember there are intelligent people in this country who work in publishing and who support the people working in publishing who work to give people the information and the perspective they need to go forth in this world and be not addled by the likes of FOX News or CNN or MSNBC or the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal.

The September issue is a veritable treasure trove of well-crafted research and logic and persuasive argument that will leave you invigorated--if not necessarily optimistic--regarding almost every topic of conversation and opinion that so many butcher so badly day in and day out on Facebook and Twitter.

It's available at news stands everywhere. Pick up a copy and let's talk.

My Dinner With Barack

Thu, 7 Jul 2011 07:07:25 -0400

Say what you will about Barack Obama, the brother keeps in touch.

I gave his campaign $50 shortly after it achieved inevitability in the spring of 2008, not long after I'd been laid off from my last secure, well, my last well-paying job -- and about a year before the money ran out.

He's kept me posted ever since.

Last month I think he sent me, like, four emails inviting me to come have dinner with just him and three other Americans -- just like me.

And right at the end there, he sent me one raising the bar, saying Joe Biden wanted in on the meal, too!

Now, I was in the stadium in Denver when Barack accepted the nomination of his party in the summer of 2008, and I called the election for him months before the first vote was cast in November.

But I was always a little bit skeptical about the dude.

I always read those Shepard Fairey posters as saying something like, "you better HOPE I do what you think I'm gonna do."

And Barack didn't disappoint me, not from the start.

Closing Gitmo, ending the wars, fixing the financial crisis, establishing universal health care, ensuring net neutrality, repealing the patriot act, ending the Bush tax credits -- so many fronts on which he'd campaigned -- just disappeared after he took office, like gorillas in the mist. I wasn't surprised at all.

But you know, I wasn't gonna bring any of that up at the dinner table.

It's a tough job, being President of the United States, and even though he keeps his hair pretty damn close-cropped, you can tell Barry has aged a good bit just a little more than half-way through his first term.

Plus, every day, he's got all kinds of folks all up in his grill about "do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?" You know what I'm sayin'?

No, I was just gonna talk straight-talk to Barack.

Big picture, 100,000 feet kinda-perspective-kinda talk.

And I even gave his campaign another $10, which is a contribution about commensurate with the place I occupy in the pecking order since the last time I gave his campaign any money.

Alas, it appears I'm not among the favoured four to dine at this particular meal, since I haven't gotten an email from Brother B and it's already a week since the entry deadline passed and, well, again -- I'm not surprised.

But here's what I was gonna suggest to the big man -- and I don't guess it might get back to him even if I'm putting it on the Internet -- but the great thing is that what I would have suggested to Tha B-Dawg as the cure for all illz is the very same thing that any and every peep out there in the world-at-large can do to make sense of this whole shebang.

You don't have to be the President of the United States to make everything all right.

But you do have to take ten days off from whatever it is you do in this life.

It seems like a lot at first blush, but in the long run it's only ten days -- it's not a lot.

Long enough for a bad rash to go away. Long enough for you to forget about every little slight you're plotting revenge for even as you're reading these words.

But here's where it gets hard for the POTUS (though not for you), because you really do have to take ten days and remove yourself from everything else that is going on in your world and commit to spending those ten days in complete silence, with no input from or communication to the world beyond yourself.

Still, if you're the President of the United States you COULD do it if you felt it was important enough.

It is only ten days.

So, anyway, it involves going to a place nearby, where the principles of Vipassana meditation are taught, and it doesn't cost anything more than you're willing to donate after-the-fact, and pretty much at the conclusion of the whole deal you will be absolutely clear on what you need to do (no matter what line of work you're in) and what you can let slide.

After which, you will also have absolute clarity about the course of action you come to during those ten days, such that you have no fear of what the future may bring.

Really.

It happened to me.

As it has happened to millions of others who have learned about Vipassana meditation, though a necessarily unknown number of them may not vote and may not have ever voted.

But still.

The point is, if you do a ten day Vipassana meditation retreat, no matter what line of work you're in, no matter how important you are or how down in the hole you might be, you will come out of the experience knowing exactly what you need to do to make the world work the way you believe it's supposed to work.

If you don't believe me, take ten days and try it for yourself.

I dare you.

Dazed and Confused: Mixed Signals on Medical Marijuana

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 03:03:45 -0400

California defendants face new federal charges after state's illegal search and seizure.

When it comes to Celebrity Justice, the name Scott Feil doesn't have quite the cachet of Barry Bonds or Lindsay Lohan, but anyone interested in learning how justice is served today would do well to follow Mr. Feil's fortunes along a tortured path in the country that famously promises "liberty and justice for all."

Mr. Feil was the Executive Director of a southern California medical marijuana dispensary called United Medical Caregivers Clinic (UMCC) when the Los Angeles Police Department raided his business in 2005, using a search warrant that was ultimately determined to have been issued illegally.

Years of legal wrangling resulted in a 2009 ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found LAPD's actions in the case unconstitutional and returned to Mr. Feil and UMCC nearly $200,000 that had been seized by the police and turned over to federal prosecutors.

In the wake of the 9th Circuit's ruling, federal prosecutors levied new charges against Mr. Feil and his colleagues.

Several co-defendants associated with UMCC, including Mr. Feil's wife Diana, now face prosecution for federal crimes that could send each of them to prison for up to 20 years -- which appears quite at odds with very public statements made previously by President Brack Obama and US Attorney General Eric Holder.

While campaigning for the presidency, Mr. Obama said that federal raids related to medical marijuana "make no sense."

Mr. Holder issued formal federal guidelines for medical marijuana policy early in the new administration, saying in October 2009, "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana."

The UMCC defendants contend their business provided diagnosis, counseling and treatment for seriously ill people under the State of California's Compassionate Use Act of 1996 (Prop 215), which legalized the distribution and use of marijuana for medical purposes in California. The fact that the business operated in compliance with state law was a key finding in the case decided by the 9th Circuit.

Now, more than four years after the original illegal search and seizure against their business, Mr. Feil, his wife and their colleagues remain consumed with efforts to keep federal agents at bay, defining their lives by a quest for liberty and justice.

The disconnect may lie in a more recent, little-publicized memorandum written in February by US Attorney Melinda Haag of the Justice Department's Northern California office. Responding to requests for guidance from the Oakland, CA City Attorney, Ms. Haag wrote that the US Attorney would enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act "vigorously" against individuals and organizations even if their activities are permitted under state law.

Amazingly, Mr. Feil seems prepared for the long haul. The former stock car racer and NASCAR driver appeared undeterred at a recent meeting near San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf, where he spoke optimistically about his case and described the retaliatory nature of the charges he will fight in the coming months.

"These charges are based on a violation of our 4th Amendment rights," he said, maintaining that "it's an incredible waste of resources and taxpayers' money to pursue this case."

The merits of US v. Feil, et al are unlikely to be considered for months, but serveral important procedural motions are set to be argued in the coming weeks, including hearings on Motions to Supress Evidence obtained illegally, Motions to Establish Standing and Motions to Disclose Confidential Informants, all on the calendar for April 14 in the Federal District Court in San Francisco.

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Lonnie Lazar is a freelance journalist in San Francisco, CA. Contact him at lonbud@gmail.com or 415.994.5353

Yesterday's News

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 13:02:11 -0500

Yesterday I appeared on the cover of a relatively new Internet magazine called Dailysingle, a kind of mashup of those old amusement park novelties, where you could get your picture on the cover of LIFE magazine or the front page of the New York Times, and an actual, curated website that presents interesting people in a light familiar to anyone with a conversant knowledge of popular culture, providing a platform for the telling of their "story" via a canned set of interview questions that are the same for each featured covergirl or boy.

Of course, it's got built-in social media sharing tools, mainly to Facebook, and ways for readers to vote on whether they think a particular subject is "smart", "fun" or "sexy" -- and for $1.99 you can even send a direct message to the daily star. I wonder how that business model is working out for them.

Anyone can "apply" to be on the cover of Dailysingle by just filling out answers to the interview questions and sending in four hi-res photos for the editors' consideration.

You can read my interview below or read it on Dailysingle, and if you read it there, don't forget to "Like" me and vote for whether you think I'm smart, sexy or fun.

Like an alderman in Chicago, I encourage you to vote multiple times.

Lonnie is a 50 year old alchemist.

He lives in San Francisco, California, United States.

DS: How did you hear about Dailysingle? What are you expecting from being on the front page?

Lonnie: I heard about Dailysingle when my friend Patricia made the cover and I expect if I make it a few friends may rib me about it -- but I'll have something cool to put in my digital picture frame.

DS: What are the most memorable years of your life and what happened to make them so memorable?

Lonnie: The two years I spent traipsing across Asia in the mid 80s after graduating from Law School vibrate in my soul to this day. Living as an instantly recognizable foreigner in foreign lands gave me an understanding of the humanity common to all people and helped me express my version of it to people whose entire experience of life and worldview was different from mine.

DS: Where were you born and where do you live now?

Lonnie: I was born in Upstate New York, raised in Memphis, Tennessee and went to college in New Orleans, where I studied English literature and deviant behavior.

After college I made my way west, fell in love with San Francisco, became a lawyer and then fled the US to seek my spiritual center in Asia.

I lived in Taiwan for a while, learned to speak Mandarin and traveled Mainland China and Tibet about a year before the Democracy movement hit Tiananmen Square.

Back in the States I became a commodities trader, owned a travel agency, got married and ran a nightclub on Haight Street in San Francisco for 13 years.

My wife and I split up after a technology venture I got involved in went bust and I reinvented myself as a freelance tech writer and web designer. I still live in the Bay Area.

DS: How would you best describe yourself?

Lonnie: I'd prefer to let others describe me, but if I had to boil myself down to two elements I'd say I'm kind and calm. Which was certainly not always the case.

DS: What are the must-haves in your daily wardrobe?

Lonnie: Um, the absence of polyester is really all I can think of. Dress me up or dress me down but please make the fabric out of something natural.

DS: Who do people tell you you look like?

Lonnie: I've heard everything from Jack Wagner to Eric Stoltz to Zonker Harris. When Forrest Gump was in theaters people used to shout "Lieutenant Dan!" at me across the bar in my nightclub.

DS: What is the compliment you most frequently get?

Lonnie: I guess I hear most often that people appreciate my centeredness, but I've been known to get compliments on my cooking and my singing from time to time as well.

DS: How did you end-up being an alchemist?

Lonnie: It's been a lifelong evolution. I never thought as a kid, "I want to be a fireman, or an astronaut, or a doctor" and then decided to become one.

I've always done whatever seemed like the thing to do at the time and as the circumstances of my life have changed I've changed my interests and avocations with them.

As I've gotten older I've realized it doesn't matter what you do in life as long as you put your true self into it. Living from the heart is its own reward and is more fulfilling than any title or any amount of wealth could ever be.

DS: Can you tell us more about your job?

Lonnie: As a writer I keep up with rumor and innovation centered on Apple, both the company and its products.

I test software and hardware and write about them. I do opinion pieces or analyses of communications tech and gadgetry for a few outlets.

In web design, I sniff out developments in digital content platforms, study markup languages and layout code and color theory for hours on end - in addition to hunting for new clients.

I love my flexible schedule and personal freedom but it means intense dedication to impeccable work and persevering emotionally and psychologically when jobs are in short supply.

"Success" in my world is fleeting. New stories push mine down the page, a new issue of the magazine comes out with another feature on the cover - I get just a day’s worth of eyeballs from this interview - so I remind myself what's real is whatever I'm focused on doing in any moment.

DS: Let's talk more about you and your tastes. Any hobbies? What do you like to do in your free time? Any thing you like and recommend?

Lonnie: I love food and wine and I'd rather shop for and prepare delicious meals made with organic fruits and vegetables and cuts of good, locally raised meat than just about anything in the world.

I don't do it nearly enough these days, but playing my guitar and singing songs, whether ones I've written or ones I'm covering, has also given me great pleasure in life.

Hiking in the woods, strolling on the beach, riding a bike in the hills - being out doors in great weather and being active are also very important to me.

But I could give all of the above up if you just left me with Yoga and meditation.

DS: What is a typical week for Lonnie?

Lonnie: I get up at 5am, stretch my body for 15 - 20 minutes and sit in silent meditation for an hour to start every day. Usually.

Walk the dog, make a breakfast of oatmeal or a protein shake and dig into the projects on my plate. Lots of email, checking the twitter and RSS feeds for news of the world, phone calls.

Sometimes I stop for lunch, some days I don't look up till 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

I try and wind down, start thinking about dinner in the late afternoon, go to the market, come home, open a bottle of wine and start banging around in the kitchen to make and eat dinner and be done with clean-up by 8 or 8:30. I like to get in bed and read before falling asleep and - as Jackson Browne wrote - get up and do it again.

Every now and then I'll throw the whole schedule off with a night on the town with friends. I’ll stay up to the wee wee hours, drink too much and take a day or two to get back in the groove.

DS: Some quick questions: What is the first thing you do in the morning?

Lonnie: Feel grateful to be alive.

DS: What is your favorite word?

Lonnie: Yes.

DS: What it your favorite quotation? Or make your own for posterity...

Lonnie: "Can I have some more, please?" - Oliver Twist

DS: What is your favorite "drug"??

Lonnie: Intelligence.

DS: What magic power would you like to have if you could choose one?

Lonnie: I have all the magic powers I need, thanks.

DS: If not yourself, who would you be?

Lonnie: I gotta be me.

DS: What is in store for you? Any key projects for the next months? Anything you want to share? Can our readers help you with anything?

Lonnie: I'm a work in progress. Always looking to be a better version of myself, to slough off the dross and reveal the precious material inside.

If any of your readers needs a website or help with their current one, I'm always looking for more work.

DS: Anything you want to add to close this interview?

Lonnie: Do the right thing, folks. And if you're not sure what the right thing is in any particular case, doing nothing is probably the right thing.

DS: Thank you Lonnie

Lonnie: Be well.

Facebook Valuation Boggles the Mind

Mon, 3 Jan 2011 17:01:51 -0500

From the What's It Worth? Department - big news in the world of finance today: the great minds at Goldman Sachs have conjured up a way for wealthy investors to get a piece of the Facebook action without actually having to take the company public.

Plunking down $450 million of its own money for a share of Facebook common stock which values the Internet equivalent of a high school lunchroom at $50 billion, Goldman won the right to create a "special purpose vehicle" whereby a select list of its own wealthiest clients can pony up an additional $1.5 billion to fund Facebook's operations and, presumably, reward its founders and directors for being brilliant, savvy players in the post-Crash era.

Hey, well, bully for them all around. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em, as the old saying used to go.

Just for kicks, though, I thought I'd poke around and see what $50 billion looks like in today's world. While it won't buy what it used to back in the day (ie: the entire gross debt of the United States was about $50 billion in 1940; it is over $1.3 trillion today ), you can still take down some pretty rad gear for that kinda dough.

To wit:

If I were to give you a dollar per second without stopping, ever, to sleep, eat or take a dump, we'd each have to live for nearly 16 centuries to complete the transaction.

If we converted the money to $1000 bills we'd have to stack them more than 5 miles high to put them all in a single pile. Or we could trade that stack for a single $50 billion note at the Exchequer of Zimbabwe, but I think we might get screwed some on the exchange rate since that note buys two loaves of bread in Zimbabwe.

If we were Bank of America and wanted to buy the investment bank that sold itself for years as the one that was "bullish on America," $50 billion would get us Merrill Lynch at its most favorable valuation, allow us to add more than 16,000 investment advisers to our roster and become the largest investment brokerage in the world. That actually happened. Back in 2008, remember?

If we were 70 of the IT world's most important CIOs we could band together and pool our annual IT spend to try and create an alliance to define the standards that will comprise this thing everyone is calling "the Cloud." And we did. And we do spend that much - every year.

If we were a prominent figure in high society, a member of the nation’s most exclusive clubs and a former NASDAQ chairman who founded one of the most successful securities firms in New York, we could create a $50 billion ponzi scheme, get caught, go to prison and drive our own son to suicide like Bernie Madoff did.

If we were the fastest-growing military and industrial power on the planet and we wanted to ensure continued access to the IMF teat at which we have suckled to nourish our stature as a force-to-be-reckoned with, we could do that for $50 billion as China did about 18 months ago.

If we were green-minded and thought about doing something tangible to shift the balance of power away from old-school, dead-fossil energy production and into low-impact, sustainable earth-friendly energy production we could buy about 40,000,000 solar photovoltaic panels. Installed.

If we weren't high-concept and just wanted to buy stuff, we could get about 25 billion McRib sandwiches; 2 or 3 nuclear reactors; about 20 professional sports stadiums; 500 Andy Warhol paintings; 29,000 Bugatti Veyrons (the most expensive production car in the world); 600 America's Cup-worthy racing yachts; 150 million pairs of Levis; or 200 million lightweight cotton hoodies like the one Mark Zuckerberg wears to work every day.

Or, if we were Apple Computers, we could just have it in the bank.

I don't know whether or not Facebook is really worth $50 billion and I don't know whether Goldman Sachs or any of its high-falutin' clients is going to make or lose money investing in Facebook at that kind of valuation.

I suspect if they do make a profit, however, it means the money I have in my bank account is worth a whole heck of a lot less than I thought it was.